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There's no way this will work in China. If you have ever been in China you'll notice that a.) cars don't follow traffic lights b.) people create unofficial e
by ting_bu_dung 10y ago
There's no way this will work in China. If you have ever been in China you'll notice that
a.) cars don't follow traffic lights
b.) people create unofficial extra lanes
c.) scooters are everywhere. and they ignore lights/lanes
d.) people don't pay attention to traffic lights nor cars when they cross.
- rahimnathwani 10y ago(a) Cars do obey traffic lights, at least in Shanghai and Beijing. Perhaps you're talking about 10 years ago, or in tier 2/3/4 cities. (d) People do pay attention when they cross the road. You have to, because cars can turn right at a red light and, even though they're meant to yield to pedestrians, they don't. (c) Creating an additional lane is rare in big cities. I'm not saying this idea is workable, but the points you make don't seem the most pressing.
- anpk 10y ago> (d) People do pay attention when they cross the road. You have to, because cars can turn right at a red light and, even though they're meant to yield to pedestrians, they don't. This directly contradicts your first point
- tmnvix 10y agoI don't think it does. Turning right on red may be legal. Not respecting pedestrians is different.
- seanmcdirmid 10y ago> (a) Cars do obey traffic lights, at least in Shanghai and Beijing. Perhaps you're talking about 10 years ago, or in tier 2/3/4 cities Most of the time? More so in Shanghai than Beijing, I still see cars doing very crazy things on a daily basis. I mean, what cop is going to dare and pull over a Black Audi? > (d) People do pay attention when they cross the road. You have to, because cars can turn right at a red light and, even though they're meant to yield to pedestrians, they don't. Most do, but after seeing a couple of cyclists hit and (probably) killed as they just blew through a red light, well, some obviously don't. > (c) Creating an additional lane is rare in big cities. Heck, 25% of the lanes in Beijing are being used for illegal parking, the scooters just spill out anywhere. Anyways, these buses I assume would only travel on very well regulated roads (if at all, this bus has been vapor for more than a few years now).
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- rahimnathwani 10y agoYou're refuting points that I didn't actually make! On (a), I said cars obey traffic lights. I didn't say they don't do other crazy things. On (d), I said people look when they're crossing the road. I wasn't talking about cyclists going through an intersection. That's not what 'crossing the road' means in every day speech. On (c), I was talking about creating an additional lane. I wasn't talking about illegally blocking an existing lane.
- seanmcdirmid 10y agoI see cars routinely not obey traffic lights, which is one of hose crazy things. The only reason it has gone down at all is because of the cameras, but you'll still see it happen on a daily basis. People don't look when they are crossing, they just go. I have to warn the driver to be careful at such intersection because there is always some old guy or gal crossing. The bikes are much more dangerous, as the cars are expected to, and can, just go around the pedestrians who don't give a f*ck about the light, but the bikes are always surprises. Beijing used to have lots of bike lanes. Technically it still does, but it is all being used for parking. The four lane roads on either side of my apartment are effectively one lane roads since parking enforcement is non existent.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- chrischen 10y agoThey've aggressively implemented traffic cameras recently. So traffic behavior has changed dramatically. People actuallywear seatbelts now! This is because they fine if you get caught even without a belt.
- seanmcdirmid 10y agoSome lights have cameras, not all, many drives know the ones that do and don't. Also, the black Audis don't care if they get caught on camera, they are basically immune to punishment. I see a few WTFs a day, still. I wish abiut the seatbelts. Almost every single taxi I've been in for the last few years has them hidden under the back seat where they aren't usable. We have to take a zhuan Che just to get them for ourselves, and the the driver is never wearing. Any kind of enforcement in Beijing has a short attention span, they might do seatbelts once a year at a few locations, it isn't enough to form any kind of deterrent.
- TeMPOraL 10y ago(a) Cars do obey traffic lights most of the time, at least in Shenzhen as of November/December 2015, when I was living there. And the GP's point (c) is spot on: > c.) scooters are everywhere. and they ignore lights/lane To elaborate - scooters and electric rickshaws basically ignore traffic laws altogether. Driving against traffic is basically their value proposition; that's what you use them for if you're brave enough to drive one / be driven in it. I've both been driven in one against traffic on the main road, and seen them passing us by, going in the wrong direction, when I was going to work by a cab. Basically, traffic in (Shenzhen,) China looks scary and chaotic at first, but one can get used to it.
- seanmcdirmid 10y agoAnd Shenzhen is considered good compared to Beijing, which is basically a 3rd tier city dressed up as a first as far as these things go.
- Accacin 10y agoNot sure about (a) at all.. I had a completely different experience.
- sandebert 10y agoWhen I visited Shanghai a couple of years ago, I was taught to never, ever look directly at a car as the driver would take that as a "you've seen me, I can go first"-signal. Instead i was supposed to only sneak peeks at the traffic, never let them know I saw them coming, which would make them stop. I was only there for about three weeks so i can't really testify for the long term effectiveness, but at least I'm still here to share that anecdata, so there's something at least. :-)
- tostitos1979 10y agoI ran into this situation with a driverless car at an intersection in Mountain View. It got me all confused. The car too .. it slowed because it was unsure I was getting into the crosswalk or not. Quite a corner case.
- fpoling 10y agoSimilarly in Moscow I was told when changing the line I should never look that other cars show any indication that they would yield. I should just blink for some seconds and then go. Then I should trust that other drivers want to avoid collisions and yield. It worked while I have been there for 9 months in 2009, but it never become emotionless instinct to drive like that.
- mollmerx 10y agoblink = indicate
- fpoling 10y agoThanks for pointing this misusage of the word that totally changed the meaning. In common Russian usage the word for "blink" also means indicate-a-turn-with-signal and that is what I meant.
- arkem 10y agoAs an aside, in Australia a car's turn indicator lights are commonly referred to as "blinkers".
- geezerjay 10y ago> a.) cars don't follow traffic lights They do, if these rules are enforced by a 40t vehicle that can crush them to death. > b.) people create unofficial extra lanes See a). > c.) scooters are everywhere. and they ignore lights/lanes Se a). > d.) people don't pay attention to traffic lights nor cars when they cross. See a).
- gotofritz 10y agoIt sounds to me that underneath one of those buses it's probably the safest place where you could drive your car...
- rogerdpack 10y agoplus shaded!
- jmadsen 10y agowith respect - have you seen pictures of that thing? Chinese drivers may be "bad", but they aren't idiots. Only one side is ever going to lose an argument with that thing.
- co_dh 10y agoI have been in China for 30 years, I would say this is not true. a.) is definitely wrong, but I agree with b and c. and I do not totally agree with d.